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STATE  AID  IN  LAND 
SETTLEMENT 


AN  ADDRESS 


BY 


ELWOOD   MEAD 

Professor  of  Rural  Institutions 


College    of    Agriculture 
University  of  California 


International  Irrigation  Congress 
Stockton,  California 


SEPTEMBER  13,  1915 


California   State   Printing  Office 


•    •      •   ••  •      •. 


H- 


B 


STATE  AID  IN  LAND  SETTLEMENT 

Wlioever  acquires  land  and  creates  thereon  a  home  renders  a 
service  to  the  State.  Whoever  makes  the  attempt  is  entitled  to 
all  the  consideration  the  State  can  safely  extend..  The  general 
welfare  is  so  largely  dependent  on  having  the  growth  of  the 
country  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  city  that  more  than 
a  score  of  enlightened  democracies  have  made  state  aid  and 
oversight  of  land  settlement  a  national  policy. 

There  are  important  reasons  why  America  should  be  added 
to  the  number.  The  progress  of  rural  development  is  at  present 
not  satisfactory.  The  balance  between  city  and  country  devel- 
opment is  not  being  maintained.  The  number  of  farmers  in 
some  of  the  richest  farming  sections  of  America  is  decreasing. 
In  the  Western  third  of  the  country,  with  its  vast  stretches  of 
unpeopled  and  unsettled  land,  cities  and  towns  are  growing  from 
two  to  five  times  as  fast  as  the  rural  districts  on  which  their 
well-being  so  largely  depends. 

Meritorious  irrigation  projects  are  unprofitable  because  of 
limited  market  for  the  water  they  make  available.  Many  set- 
tlers under  these  projects,  after  years  of  effort,  have  had  to 
abandon  their  homes  and  lose  the  capital  brought  with  them. 
The  condition  of  many  settlers  remaining  is  precarious  and  calls 
for  early  and  adequate  relief. 

The  Xation  has  no  land  settlement  policy;  there  is  no  one  to 
whom  a  settler  can  go  for  official  disinterested  advice  about  land 
values ;  there  is  no  one  to  direct  beginners  in  the  costly  and 
difficult  work  of  preparing  land  for  irrigation;  there  is  no 
system  of  rural  credits  or  long  time  amortized  payments  which 
are  the  salvation  of  settlers  in  other  developing  countries. 
There  are  on  the  contrary  inflated  land  prices;  irresponsible 
land  sellers:  interest  rates  ranging  from  6  per  cent  to  12  per 
cent  (instead  of  2^  per  cent  to  5  per  cent  in  countries  where 
settlement  has  state  aid).  There  are  short  time  loans  with  com- 
missions for  renewals  and  the  ever  impending  menace  of  mort- 
gage foreclosure.  If  the  settler  w^orks  long  hours,  lives  on 
scanty   fare,   wears  poor  clothes,   and  denies   himself  and  his 


798632 


*f<(vmily  all'  except  •the  bare  necessities  of  existence,  it  costs  from 
$50.00  to  $100.00  an  acre  to  make  arid  public  land  habitable  and 
productive.     If  he  lives  decently,  it  costs  more. 

Men  with  ample  capital  will  not  subject  their  families  to  the 
privations  of  this  pioneering  experience.  Many  who  do  make 
the  attempt  too  often  fail  for  the  lack  of  assistance  which  the 
State  could  safely  give.  As  a  result,  the  young,  virile,  and 
ambitious  who,  under  sensible  conditions,  would  be  creating 
homes  on  the  land,  are  either  flocking  to  the  cities  or  going  to 
other  countries  which  do  give  aid  to  settlers. 

Present  Methods  Wasteful,  Unscientific,  and  Most  Unfair  to  Settlers. 

There  is  no  period  in  the  life  of  a  community  so  important  as 
when  the  land  is  being  settled.  The  influences  exerted  in  these 
plastic  years  may  determine  its  prosperity  and  the  character  of 
its  civic  ideals  for  all  future  time.  Settlement  should,  therefore, 
be  not  left  to  chance  but  should  be  under  state  oversight. 
There  should  be  in  each  state  a  Rural  Development  Bureau 
which  should  have  a  record  of  lands  available  for  settlement; 
furnish  information  about  the  fertility  and  productiveness  of 
land;  exercise  oversight  over  the  operations  of  land  salesmen. 
The  State  should  create  a  system  of  rural  credit  which  will  give 
settlers  low  interest  rates  and  long  time  amortized  payments 
for  the  money  borrowed  to  improve  and  equip  their  farms. 

We  are  one  of  the  few  developing  countries  which  leaves 
the  settler  to  struggle  unaided  with  the  costly  and  difficult  task 
of  preparing  land  for  irrigation ;  one  of  the  few  countries  that 
lets  settlers  fail  when  halfway  through  their  development  and 
leave  their  homes,  impoverished  and  embittered,  because  their 
capital  is  exhausted  and  there  is  no  way  that  money  to  complete 
development  can  be  obtained.  We  protect  the  public  from  im- 
position in  many  directions ;  we  scrutinize  bond  issues  and 
oversee  insurance  companies,  but  do  nothing  to  save  the  con- 
fiding settler  from  the  deadfalls  set  for  him  on  every  side.  The 
mess  we  have  made  of  Western  rural  development  during  the 
last  fifteen  years  through  leaving  the  settler  to  take  care  of 
himself  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  a  change. 


Influence  of   Profits  from   Land   Sales   on   Rural  Development. 

So  long  as  the  fertile  lands  of  the  Middle  West  or  the  easily 
watered  lands  of  the  arid  West  were  to  be  had  under  the  Home- 
stead Act,  there  was  no  need  for  state  aid,  but  about  the  begin- 
ning- of  this  century  the  fertile  lands  were  absorbed  and  the 
irrigation  of  arid  lands  had  become  so  costly  and  difficult  as  to 
place  it  beyond  the  reach  of  individual  capital  or  effort.  This 
led  to  the  passage  of  the  Reclamation  Act,  and  to  enormous 
investments  of  corporate  capital  in  the  construction  of  irrigation 
works.  The  settler  who  was  to  create  a  home  on  this  land,  use 
the  water  and  pay  interest  on  the  cost  of  development,  was  not 
given  the  consideration  his  needs  made  imperative. 

Neither  the  Government  Reclamation  Act  nor  the  plans  of 
corporate  enterprises  made  any  provision  for  giving  financial 
aid  to  the  settler  in  acquiring  land ;  or  in  helping  him  prepare 
it  for  cultivation,  or  to  protect  him  from  exploitation  by  the 
land  speculator.  The  opinion  has  seemed  to  prevail  that  if 
canals  were  built  and  water  made  available,  settlers  should  fight 
their  battles  unaided  and  pay  all  the  costs.  Both  the  Govern- 
ment and  corporate  enterprises  gave  their  whole  attention  and 
invested  all  their  money  in  building  dams  and  reservoirs.  The 
economic  problems  of  the  farmers  who  were  to  repay  this  in- 
vestment were  practically  ignored.  This  gave  to  the  land 
speculator  a  broad  and  inviting  field  and  full  use  was  made  of 
its  opportunities. 

The  Need  for  Study  of  the  Economic  Problems  of  Settlement. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  great  investment  in  irrigation 
works  was  not  preceded  by  an  economic  study  to  determine 
what  were  the  social  and  agricultural  factors.  Such  a  study 
would  have  shown  that  the  same  need  existed  for  money  and 
skilled  practical  direction  in  preparing  land  for  irrigation  as  for 
money  and  engineering  skill  to  build  canals.  It  would  have 
disclosed  the  great  cost  of  transforming  arid  lands  into  pro- 
ductive farms  and  would  have,  at  the  outset,  brought  Govern- 
ment aid  to  settlers  or  warned  those  without  capital  to  keep 
away.  It  would,  almost  certainly,  have  prevented  the  exploita- 
tion of  settlers  by  speculators. 


There  was,  however,  no  such  investigation.  On  the  con- 
trary, newspapers  and  magazines  were  filled  with  glowing 
accounts  of  the  great  opportunities  for  settlers  which  Govern- 
ment and  private  reclamation  work  were  opening  up  in  the  arid 
West.  Their  description  of  the  Government's  operations  was 
misleading  in  that  it  gave  to  the  eager  landseeker  a  belief  that 
much  of  this  development  was  to  be  a  donation  and  added  to 
the  properly  equipped  homeseekers  a  great  body  of  immigrants 
who  lacked  capital  and  experience  and  a  correct  understanding 
of  the  task  they  were  attempting. 

The  story  of  what  followed,  when  written,  will  be  an  interest- 
ing economic  history.  Probably  nothing  has  ever  surpassed  the 
wide  range  of  activities,  the  fertility  of  imagination  and  the 
utter  lack  of  any  sense  of  responsibility  on  the  part  of  those  who 
sold  land  to  these  confident,  credulous,  and  inexperienced  home- 
seekers.  As  the  demand  for  land  increased,  the  pcice  was 
inflated  from  five  to  twenty  times  its  original  cost.  Land 
bought  for  $20  an  acre  was  subdivided  and  sold  for  $ioo  to 
$250  an  acre.  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  bought 
on  an  average  price  of  $40  an  acre  had  its  price  increased  by 
subdivision  to  $75  and  $250  an  acre. 

In  time  these  land  prices  became  purely  speculative ;  they  had 
no  relation  to  productive  values.  It  was  not  in  any  sense  real 
development.  Both  the  State  and  the  settler  were  being  ex- 
ploited. Nothing  worse  for  the  enduring  prosperity  of  this 
part  of  the  Nation  could  have  happened. 

These  increasing  prices  brought  with  them  a  staggering  bur- 
den of  interest.  Land  selling  became  a  more  complicated  and 
difficult  operation.  It  required  more  imagination,  more  elo- 
quence and  personal  magnetism  to  sell  land  at  $200  an  acre 
than  had  been  required  at  an  earlier  date  to  sell  the  same  land 
for  $20  an  acre.  The  successful  land  salesman  became  an 
indispensible  factor.  The  customary  commission  of  23/2  to  5 
per  cent  that  prevails  where  development  is  of  a  healthy 
character  and  where  values  are  legitimate,  rose  to  the  unbeliev- 
able figure  of  25  per  cent.  One-quarter  of  the  selling  price  of 
the  farm  went  to  the  land-selling  spider  who  wove  the  net  for 
the  settler  fly. 


The  records  of  one  subdivision  show  that  it  has  cost  an 
average  of  $70  an  acre  to  sell  land  that  was  originally  bought 
for  $35  an  acre. 

Commissions  like  these  are  undesirable.  The  sooner  a  sub- 
stitute is  found  the  better.  They  put  too  great  a  strain  on  the 
careful  regard  for  truth  which  should  be  the  chief  qualification 
of  whoever  advises  a  settler.  There  is  an  obligation  of  hos- 
pitality to  those  who  bring  their  money,  confidence,  and  industry 
to  a  state  to  help  in  its  upbuilding. 

Abuse  of  the  Small  Farm  Idea. 

A  farmer's  success  depends,  in  large  measure,  on  the  size  of 
his  farm.  It  should  have  a  living  area,  which  means  it  should 
be  large  enough  to  support  the  settler's  family  in  comfort  and 
furnish  employment  for  all  its  members.  The  acreage  it  should 
have  depends  on  the  soil,  the  climate  and  the  markets.  In  some 
localities  five  acres  may  be  too  much.  In  others  eighty  acres 
is  not  enough.  In  every  case  economic  conditions  should  con- 
trol the  subdivision  of  new  areas,  but  where  land  settlement  is 
controlled  by  private  enterprise,  where  the  sole  consideration  is 
profit,  the  living  area  idea  is  subordinated  to  a  consideration  of 
what  kind  of  subdivision  will  give  the  largest  and  quickest 
profit  to  the  seller.  It  was  not  the  future  prosperity  of  the 
buyer  but  his  present  ability  to  pay  that  too  often  fixed  the 
size  of  the  small  farm. 

The  Western  landseeker  has  had,  as  a  rule,  a  capital  some- 
where between  a  thousand  and  five  thousand  dollars.  As  land 
prices  rose,  the  acreage  which  he  could  pay  for,  or  rather  on 
which  he  could  make  the  first  payment,  had  to  diriiinish  or 
sales  would  end.  This  was  recognized  by  those  having  land 
to  market,  and  so  the  farm  unit  was  cut  down  from  160  to  80 
acres,  80  to  40,  40  to  20,  20  to  10,  10  to  5.  The  incomes 
promised  from  these  handkerchief  farms  were  not  based  on 
ordinary  agricultural  practices,  which  the  majority  of  these 
landseekers  understood  and  to  which  soil  and  markets  were 
suited,  but  on  what  is  possible  by  intensive  cultivation,  which 
requires  exceptional  knowledge  and  skill,  and  which  are  practi- 
cable  only   where   soil   and   market   conditions   are   favorable. 


Where  these  conditions  did  not  exist  the  lo-  to  20-acre  farms 
have  caused  great  disappointment  and  loss  to  settlers.  It  takes 
more  than  a  small  acreage  to  convert  goose  land  into  garden 
soil,  and  something  more  than  high  prices  for  land  and  high 
interest  rates  to  transform  a  farmer  who  knows  how  to  grow 
alfalfa  and  corn  into  an  intensive  cultivator  of  fruits  and 
vegetables. 

In  Colorado,  Washington,  and  California  and  Western 
Canada  many  lo-acre  tracts  in  which  settlers  have  invested  all 
their  capital  and  several  years  labor  will  not  afford  a  comfortable 
living.  They  are  not  suited  to  the  habits  and  experience  of 
the  settler,  nor  to  the  markets.  Many  of  these  settlers  have  only 
a  meager  living  and  very  little  hope  of  a  better  one.  It  is  not 
a  basis  on  which  a  young  man  could  start  in  to  rear  a  family. 
Whoever,  therefore,  has  regard  for  the  comfort  and  well-being 
of  those  dependent  upon  him  goes  elsewhere. 

I  believe  these  conditions  call  for  legislation;  that  the  State 
should  exercise  oversight  over  settlement.  The  Parliamentary 
Commission  which  investigated  this  matter  in  British  Columbia 
has  recommended  the  licensing  of  persons,  companies  or  cor- 
porations doing  real  estate  business. 

State  Aid  in  Reclamation  of  Public  Lands  Indispensible. 

I  have  recently  made  a  personal  inspection  of  the  lands  being 
reclaimed  and  to  be  reclaimed  under  a  score  of  irrigation  works. 
These  included  both  Government  and  private  enterprises.  In 
every  case  one  had  only  to  look  at  the  land,  at  the  settler's  house, 
at  his  meager  and  inadequate  equipment,  and  then  hear  the 
story  of  hope  deferred  and  development  arrested  by  inadequate 
capital  to  realize  what  a  serious  venture  it  is  for  the  unaided 
individual  to  attempt  to  reclaim  wild  land. 

In  the  first  place  the  majority  of  these  settlers  enter  on  a 
kind  of  development  they  do  not  understand  and  a  kind  of 
agriculture  whose  methods  and  practices  are  all  strange  and 
new.  Before  they  can  obtain  a  living  income  from  their  farms 
they  must  incur  large  expenses  not  required  in  an  unirrigated 
country ;  they  must  have  a  shelter  for  their  families ;  provision 
must  be  made  for  a  water  supply  for  household  uses;  ditches 


nmst  be  dug,  the  land  cleared,  the  surface  leveled  so  that  water 
will  flow  over  it ;  often  it  must  be  irrigated  and  cultivated  a  year 
before  a  crop  can  be  grown.  All  of  this  expenditure  and  labor 
is  unproductive.  Meantime,  the  settler  must  live  and  much  of 
his  scanty  capital  is  being  swallowed  up  in  living  expenses. 

If  this  preparatory  work  were  done  in  advance  of  settlement, 
or  under  a  scheme  in  which  the  settler  is  given  financial  aid  and 
practical  oversight  after  his  arrival,  the  land  would  be  prepared 
for  irrigation  in  half  the  time  and  at  half  the  present  average 
expense ;  and  if  settlers  could  secure  an  adequate  equipment  for 
stocking  and  cultivating  their  farms,  three-fourths  of  the  failures 
which  now  occur  would  be  averted.  On  Government  reclama- 
tion projects  this  organization  and  this  financial  aid  and  practical 
direction  should  be  attended  to  by  the  Government.  On  many 
private  enterprises  it  will  have  to  be  done  by  the  State.  A  few 
hundred  thousand  dollars  spent  in  building  houses,  in  leveling 
land  for  crops,  and  making  loans  to  settlers  would  give  better 
results  to  the  Nation  and  create  far  better  social  conditions  in 
irrigated  areas  than  the  expenditure  of  millions  of  dollars  on 
new  irrigation  works. 

I  have  said  that  the  condition  of  settlers  under  many  of  these 
works  calls  for  relief.  On  one  project  the  average  indebtedness 
of  all  the  settlers  is  $i,ooo.  They  have  exhausted  their  capital, 
reached  the  limit  of  their  credit,  and  have  no  way  to  complete 
the  improvement  of  their  farms.  On  another  three-fourths  of 
the  settlers  must  lose  the  fruits  of  years  of  effort  and  all  the 
capital  spent  in  development  if  aid  is  not  soon  forthcoming. 
On  another  85  per  cent  of  the  farms  are  mortgaged  and  the 
mortgage  debt  averages  $50  an  acre  over  the  whole  area.  On 
another  project  one  farm  has  been  sold,  abandoned,  and  resold 
five  times.  There  are  several  enterprises,  Government  and 
private,  where  aid  to  settlers  must  be  had  if  a  wholesale  exodus 
is  to  be  averted.  Out  of  hundreds  of  experiences  of  settlers 
obtained  from  personal  interviews,  I  will  give  one,  which  is, 
however,  typical  of  many. 

This  settler  brought  with  him  from  Wisconsin  $2,000,  gath- 
ered together  through  years  of  industry  and  economy.  He  took 
up  eighty  acres  of  Government  land,  of  which  68  acres  were 


irrigable.  He  built  a  house  at  a  cost  of  $200,  and  a  shed  in 
which  to  keep  his  horses.  He  then  bought  furniture  for  the 
house,  implements  to  cultivate  and  level  the  ground,  and  then 
began  the  unproductive  and  unfamiliar  labor  of  fencing  his 
farm,  building  ditches,  and  leveling  the  land  for  cultivation. 
While  he  worked  at  this  the  remainder  of  his  capital  was  being 
absorbed  in  living  expenses,  and  before  any  income  could  be 
obtained  his  capital  was  exhausted  and  he  had  no  credit.  A 
man  without  food  will  starve  to  death  in  about  nine  days;  and 
he  had  to  give  up  the  improvement  of  his  farm  and  go  to  work 
for  wages  to  buy  bread.  As  he  expressed  it,  he  is  dead  broke 
and  in  debt.  The  wages  he  is  getting  only  furnish  a  bare  liveli- 
hood. He  has  no  more  prospect  of  keeping  that  farm  without 
some  financial  aid  from  the  State  than  I  have  of  flying  to  the 
moon;  but  his  two  thousand  dollars  is  there  and  he  hates  to 
leave  it  and  begin  life  over  again. 

I  asked  another  settler,  whose  condition  was  equally  hopeless, 
why  they  had  not  presented  their  situation  to  the  public  and 
asked  for  some  comprehensive  rehef.  He  said  they  called  a 
meeting  to  consider  it  and  were  afraid  if  they  did  there  would 
be  no  chance  of  selling  out,  and  they  preferred  to  keep  still  and 
take  their  chances  of  unloading  on  some  other  ''sucker." 

All  of  these  settlers  believe  that  if  the  lands  were  made  ready 
for  cultivation  and  they  had  the  necessary  stock  and  equipment, 
they  could  pay  the  entire  cost,  pay  for  water  rights  and  become 
prosperous  and  contented  members  of  the  community  in  a  few 
years.  Until  financial  provision  for  doing  this  is  made  it  is 
neither  honest  nor  humane  to  allow  poor  men  to  settle  on 
unimproved  arid  land. 

State  Aid  in  Land  Settlement  a  Success  in  Other  Countries. 

The  most  pathetic  aspect  of  this  situation  is  the  fact  that 
nearly  all  this  hardship,  anxiety  and  waste  of  time  and  money 
can  be  averted.  I  say  this  with  certainty  because  of  a  personal 
knowledge  of  what  is  being  accomplished  through  state  aided 
development  in  other  countries.  I  was  for  nearly  eight  years 
a  member  of  a  commission  that  had  charge  of  government  aid 
in  irrigation  settlement  in  an  Australian  state. 


9 

I  accompanied  the  Minister  of  Lands  in  an  investigation  of 
state  aided  development  in  Italy,  Denmark,  and  Ireland  and 
saw  in  every  case  a  return  of  the  people  to  the  land,  a  content- 
ment and  prosperity  that  had  never  before  been  known  and  a 
new  birth  of  patriotism  and  aftection  for  the  state  because  of 
gratitude  for  the  service  which  it  had  rendered. 

When  I  went  to  Australia  conditions  there  were  almost  a 
direct  counterpart  of  those  now  confronting  irrigation  •  enter- 
prises in  this  country.  Costly  works  had  been  built  but  the  land 
was  not  being  irrigated  nor  the  water  being  used.  The  number 
of  farmers  on  irrigated  areas  was  decreasing.  Men  who  were 
without  capital  could  not  buy  the  land  and  those  with  capital 
did  not  care  to.  The  Government  determined. to  change  this. 
It  began  an  investigation  to  determine  what  the  Government 
ought  to  do  and  could  safely  attempt.  In  other  words,  land 
settlement  was  studied  from  the  standpoint  of  public  welfare 
rather  than  from  the  standpoint  of  profit  from  land  sales. 

This  preliminary  study  of  the  situation  showed  that  the 
success  of  a  settler  largely  depends  on  two  things  :  First,  obtain- 
ing a  living  income  from  his  farm  within  a  year;  and  second, 
getting  the  whole  of  his  land  into  cultivation  and  production 
inside  of  two  years.  The  State's  plan  of  irrigation  development 
included,  therefore,  building  houses  for  settlers,  leveling  and 
seeding  a  part  of  the  farms,  the  placing  of  a  practical  farm 
instructor  over  every  area  of  20,000  acres  or  less  and  the  lending 
of  money  to  the  settler  to  complete  the  development.  In  all  this 
the  public  was  amply  protected.  While  the  settler  was  only 
required  to  pay  a  deposit  of  3  per  cent  on  the  land  and  was 
given  363^  years'  time  in  which  to  complete  payments,  he  paid 
a  40  per  cent  deposit  of  the  cost  of  nearly  all  improvements 
and  was  only  loaned  up  to  60  per  cent  of  the  value  of  improve- 
ments made  by  himself. 

I  am  quite  sure  that  if  those  in  charge  of  irrigation  develop- 
ment in  this  country  could  visit  one  of  the  Australian  districts 
and  see  what  it  means  to  a  settler  to  go  into  a  new  and  comfort- 
able home,  to  take  possession  of  fields  from  which,  in  many 
instances,  a  living  income  was  obtained  within  thirty  da\>  after 
settlement,  and  look  over  the  financial  records  of  the  Govern- 


10 

mcnt  and  see  how  this  is  being  carried  out  without  expense  to 
the  general  taxpayer,  it  would  mean  an  immediate  end  to  the 
haphazard,  unaided,  wasteful  and  costly  policy  that  is  now 
being  followed  here. 

As  year  after  year  I  saw  the  settlements  extend  and  show 
as  much  progress  in  a  year  as  is,  as  a  rule,  made  here  in  five 
years,  the  desire  and  longing  grew  within  me  to  return  to  my 
own  country  and  do  all  that  lay  within  my  power  to  help 
establish  here  the  system  that  is  doing  so  much  for  rural 
development  in  other  lands. 

Conditions  Favorable  for  Change  in  America. 

I  beHeve  that  the  time  has  arrived  for  this  country  to  change 
its  methods  and  that  public  opinion  is  favorable  to  such  change. 
The  subjects  chosen  for  discussion  at  this  Congress  show  a 
new  understanding  of  the  settler's  needs.  The  great  intellect 
of  Secretary  Lane  is  united  to  a  broad,  human  sympathy  and 
understanding,  and  his  spirit  is  reflected  in  the  present  admin- 
istration of  the  Reclamation  Act.  We  have  in  our  agricultural 
colleges  and  experiment  stations  a  body  of  trained,  expert 
advisers  such  as  are  available  in  few  other  countries. 

One  of  the  most  gratifying  experiences  I  have  had  since  my 
return  is,  however,  to  find  in  California  an  exhibition  of  its  old 
and  lovely  spirit  of  hospitality  to  the  stranger  within  its  gates 
and  a  demonstration  of  the  feasibility  and  value  of  organized 
aid  and  direction  in  settlement.  It  owes  its  existence  not  to  the 
conscience  and  wisdom  of  the  public  but  to  the  sagacity  and 
humanity  of  an  individual.  The  pioneer  in  scientific  land  set- 
tlement in  California  is  Dr.  George  Dwinnell,  of  Siskiyou 
County.  He  is  building  houses,  leveling  and  planting  part  of 
the  farm,  providing  the  needed  equipment  of  tools  and  live  stock, 
giving  the  settler  time  to  get  on  his  feet  before  requiring  repay- 
ment, and  is  building  up  a  community  with  right  social  con- 
ditions and  enabling  families  to  enjoy  landed  independence 
who  could  never  pay  for  it  if  left  to  begin  this  struggle  unaided. 

The  best  part  of  his  work  is  that  it  pays  in  money,  although 
he  did  not  undertake  it  for  profit. 


11 

The  experience  of  Dr.  Dwinnell  shows  that  here,  as  in  other 
countries,  capital  and  organization  are  needed  in  the  preparation 
of  irrigable  areas  for  settlement,  and  not  only  pays  in  money 
but  in  social  conditions.  As  an  illustration  of  that.  I  have 
placed  on  the  wall  a  photograph  of  one  of  the  houses  built  by 
the  State  of  Victoria,  one  of  those  built  by  Dr.  Dwinnell,  and 
one  by  a  settler  working  without  aid  or  direction. 

What  Dr.  Dwinnell  is  doing,  what  has  been  done  in  British 
and  German  South  Africa,  and  Australia,  can  be  done  in 
America.  That  is  the  view  of  a  Parliamentary  Commission 
of  our  near  neighbor,  British  Columbia.  This  Commission, 
after  an  investigation  of  Rural  Credits  and  land  settlement  in 
this  country,  Europe  and  Australasia,  have  recommended  the 
adoption  in  their  province  of  the  Australian  system,  and  a  bill 
appropriating  fifteen  million  dollars  to  inaugurate  this  system 
is  now  before  their  Parliament. 

The  report  of  the  British  Columbian  Commission  ought  to  be 
widely  read  in  this  country.     It  says : 

"The  system  has  not  only  increased  the  output  of  farms,  given  a 
great  impulse  to  the  agricultural  industry,  but  has  reacted  on  other 
industries  and  stimulated  trade. 

"With  money  available  on  terms  suitable  to  the  industry,  the 
farmers  have  built  better  houses  or  remodelled  their  old  ones; 
brought  a  large  acreage  of  land  under  cultivation  that  would  other- 
wise be  lying  idle;  have  bought  and  kept  better  live  stock;  have 
bought  and  used  more  labor-saving  machinery  on  the  farms  and  in 
the  houses;  have  erected  elevated  tanks  and  windmills;  *  *  * 
They  keep  more  sheep  and  pigs  and  have  so  largely  increased  the 
revenue  from  their  farms  that  they  are  able  to  meet  the  payments 
on  the  mortgages  and  to  adopt  a  higher  standard  of  living,  and  a 
better  one.  Throughout  the  country  a  higher  and  better  civilization 
is  gradually  being  evolved." 

State  Aid  Would  Entail  No  Expense  on  the  Public. 

State  aid  and  control  in  settlement,  if  adopted,  must  be,  how- 
ever, on  business  principles.  Aid  should  only  be  extended  to 
actual  settlers  and  to  those  equipped  in  experience  and  character 
to  succeed.  There  should  be  no  donations  of  money.  Loans 
should  be  secured  by  liens  on  the  land  and  improvements  and 
the  interest  rate  should  be  high  enough  to  make  the  system 


12 

entirely  self-supporting.  It  can  do  this  and  still  be  of  immeas- 
urable benefit  to  settlers  and  to  the  State. 

To  those  who  are  fearful  that  the  adoption  of  this  system 
would  mean  loss  which  the  public  would  have  to  assume,  I 
would  say  that  this  will  not  occur  unless  as  a  nation  we  are  less 
capable  and  less  honest  than  any  of  the  other  countries  that 
have  adopted  it.  The  remarkable  fact  is  that  in  not  a  single 
country  has  the  system  failed  to  pay  its  way. 

In  New  Zealand  the  accumulated  profits  amount  to  $1,500,000. 
In  Denmark,  where  the  loans  go  up  to  90  per  cent  of  the  value 
of  improvements,  there  has  been  no  loss.  In  Australia  where 
$232,373,200  has  been  loaned,  there  is  not  one  among  the  'j'j'j 
members  of  the  eight  Parliaments  concerned  who  is  not  an 
ardent  supporter  of  the  system. 

In  the  Australian  state  where  I  lived,  out  of  over  seven 
thousand  repayments  due  in  19 12,  only  ten  farmers  were  in 
arrears  and  those  arrears  aggregated  only  $468. 

The  Objection  of  Paternalism. 

To  the  objection  that  such  aid  would  be  paternalism  I  would 
reply  that  it  is  no  more  paternalism  than  the  Homestead  Act, 
or  River  and  Harbor  improvements,  or  rural  delivery  in  the 
Postal  Service.  Of  all  governments,  democracies  should  be  the 
ones  most  capable  of  performing  and  willing  to  perform  any 
direct  service  for  the  people  which  the  public  welfare  requires. 

Relief  and  protection  for  the  settler  is  both  a  national  duty 
and  an  opportunity.  I  hope  that  the  Reclamation  Service  may 
be  given  money  and  authority  to  relieve  its  struggling  settlers. 
I  hope  that  the  State  Rural  Credit  Act  introduced  in  the  last 
Legislature  of  California  may  become  a  law  in  the  next  one, 
and  that  this  Congress  will,  in  its  resolutions,  ask  for  a  compre- 
hensive investigation  of  this  subject. 


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